People biding time on Obamacare

So far, it appears folks in Alamance County are waiting for the bugs to be worked out before logging on en masse and shopping in the new marketplace offered by the long-anticipated, sometimes welcomed and many times feared Affordable Care Act.

Thatís good thinking. For one, the Affordable Care Act stumbled out of the gate, with the computer servers of health care exchanges crashing in many states. And, 2. many still hold out hope that some of the more contentious or unresolved portions of what many call ďObamacareĒ will be delayed in some way. Itís easy to see why. One of the main reasons for the federal government shutdown is a dispute over whether to delay the individual mandate for one year. That dispute should not hold up the budget, but Obama should listen to the many complaints about the rollout and seriously consider some sort of postponement.

So while the future of some portions of the presidentís health care reform law is more difficult to predict, the early glitches for those trying to sign up on the opening days should have been expected. After all, any system so complex was bound to have its share of foul-ups, bleeps and blunders.

Indeed, it was not a confident start to the largest expansion of government into the health care sector since 1965. On Oct. 1, many servers in 34 states crashed. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services runs the exchanges in 34 states, including North Carolina, where people across the Tar Heel State reported problems getting started.

The good news locally is that such frustrations are perhaps relatively few. Traffic has been slow so far at sites set up to help. A quick survey of Alamance County libraries, where computers were set up for those anxious to log-on to the new insurance marketplace, indicates only a trickle of local residents are taking them up on the offer. Itís a low number considering that the North Carolina Institute of Medicine reports that about 10,870 adults between 18 and 64 in our county are eligible to use the federal health insurance marketplace. In all, 27,000 people under the age of 65 are without insurance.

The same is true at the Graham-Hopedale Road Walmart where a Burlington insurer affiliated with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina set up a branch office to answer questions about the ACA. Scott Allred of Don Allred insurance reports that representatives there are only seeking about 20 people a night who have interest in the 51 insurance plans offered via the new marketplace.

But Allred says the number will likely grow as the Dec. 15 deadline for Jan. 1 coverage draws near.

We agree, especially if no delay materializes in the next few days. Most will succumb to the inevitable and figure out a course of action, albeit coerced under the threat of a financial penalty.

Page 2 of 2 - Allred says it takes about 30 minutes to fill out paperwork. When the federal governmentís online exchange is available to agencies starting on Tuesday that time should be trimmed even more.

Federal officials, obviously, stress the positive. Only about 15 percent of American adults have to look for health insurance through exchanges, according to the Miami Herald. Officials said the enrollment period runs through March 31. And the U.S. government has a toll-free number with live operators offering assistance in 150 languages.

The negative is that Obamacare remains unpopular with a high number of Americans, according to recent polling and it remains a red-hot political topic. This probably wouldnít be so large an issue were the program voluntary. But under ACA, most Americans and legal residents must purchase insurance or face tax penalties and can enroll now through March 31.

At this point, Alamance County residents are wise to take a deep breath and wait to see what happens. Thereís still plenty of time to log-in after the bugs are removed.